I also wrote the two 1250 word Con law papers during the semester. I did find the process of writing them useful, but I agree with Amanda that the feedback ultimately depended on the TA. My law school experience and, I imagine, my legal training, would have been significantly enhanced if each class included two papers with extensive feedback from the professor in addition to the final. Perhaps there is some argument that by giving students only one shot it trains them for the rigors of the legal practice. Even so, I can't imagine that professors would disagree that the general lack of feedback poses a significant obstacle to our learning process. I assume the reason that nearly all law school classes consist of only one graded final exam is that those with authority decided that it was most practical to do it this way. Is this really the case? What would happen if a law school required professors to increase the amount of feedback over the course of the semester? Would that law school have trouble attracting professors? At least more student discussion on the subject points in the right direction of change.

I agree that more work with feedback would reduce stress. I think this would affect the overall culture not only because it would disperse the final grade, but also because it would create less uncertainty which I believe accounts for a lot of the negative interaction among first year students. My second semester was a very different experience form my first mainly because I was more confident. Of course there will always be more uncertainty at the beginning of any experience. However, the lack of feedback significantly contributed to this feeling. Also, I was incredibly surprised about how little guidance professors offered on what they wanted from us in exams. It was almost as if the work that we were actually going to be evaluated on was off limits as a topic of discussion. I applied to be a peer mentor next year because I hope to at least help calm some of the unnecessary uncertainty faced by 1Ls. I think the law schools could do a lot to offer us a better and more beneficial experience.

-- CarinaWallance - 23 May 2008